16 Oct 2024

The senior national team, the Zebras now need a win and a draw in their remaining two games in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2025 Group C qualifiers.

They will host Mauritannia on November 11 and then play Egypt away in Cairo on November 15.

Perched on the second spot with six points behind Egypt, which has 12 points, the Zebras stand a chance to return to the continental competition finals in Marrakech next year. 

After an unexpected departure of their coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa on Tuesday night, following the team’s 1-0 victory over Cape Verde at the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium in Francistown, the Zebras must now focus on the remaining two games more than ever. 

The Botswana Football Association  would now have to look for the coach’s replacement as the team prepares to conclude the qualifiers. 

The Zebras can qualify for their second AFCON finals following their maiden appearance in 2012 during the finals held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.  A Zebras’ win by a solitary Thabang Sesinyi goal against Cape Verde on Tuesday night improved the team’s chances of qualifying for the 2025 showpiece.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, during the match attended by a few Zebras supporters diehards, Cape Verde came out all gun blazing and mounted a lot of pressure on the home side to try and get an early goal and unsettle the Zebras, but the locals defence proved very solid. 

In the fourth minute of the duel, Zebras’ Mothusi Johnson was given a yellow card for rough tackling the visiting side’s danger man, Tiago Manuel Dias Correia. 

The resultant free kick was comfortably dealt with by the industrious Zebras goalkeeper, Goitseone Phoko, who was in his element. 

On the 10th minute, the attempt to catch Cape Verde on a counter attack was wasted. 

The Zebras’ lethal striker, Tumisang Orebonye’s shot went off target after rounding off the opponents. 

This did not sit well with the fans, who felt Orebonye could have passed the ball to teammates who had better scoring chances. 

The two teams went into recess with a 0-0 score line. Botswana striker, Sesinyi, scored the all-important goal in the 50^th minute, which made everybody marvel at his beauty and dexterity. 

The introduction of Gilbert Baruti in the second half of the match gave the home side shape and confidence. 

His moves on and off the ball were a marvel to watch. 

The visiting side’s energy was now waning towards the end of the encounter, and they started to show signs of frustration, perhaps due to the tactical changes by the Zebras, who were now defending in numbers to hang on to the lead. 

Both the Zebras players and the 12th player, who were the fans, were not happy with the refereeing, which they felt was skewed towards the visiting side. Ends